Beginning the New Year – Pt. 1

When all of the window dressing is removed, we discover that the entire issue about when to begin the year rests with the instructions regarding the Khag of Ingathering and its tequphath (season of the year).

Preliminary StatementThe late Jews tell of four תקופת (tequphath) of the year (spring, summer, autumn, and winter), each calculated as a period following one of the days of a תקופה (tequphah): the vernal equinox, the summer solstice, autumnal equinox, and winter solstice.1

It is also important for us not to confuse the occurrence of a tequphah (i.e., equinox or solstice) with the season (tequphath) although the same word is sometimes used in common speech for both.

To begin with, a tequphah (equinox or solstice), as spoken of by Scriptures, is a solar event, marking a point of passage of the earth around the sun. It represents a day wherein one of two visual effects occur.

1. A solstice day is a day when the sun, as seen along the earth’s horizon, reaches its furthest point of rising or setting either on the north or south.

2. On the day of an equinox, on the other hand, the rising and setting of the sun lies on the horizon precisely in the middle between the two solstice points. As a consequence, the length of the periods of daytime and nighttime on that day of the equinox are almost exactly equivalent.

The TequphathThe Hebrew word תקופת (tequphath)—various transliterated as tekufath, tequfoth, tequfath, and so forth—is a form of the term תקופה (tequphah)—tekufah, tequfah, and so forth. Tequphah is itself derived from the word קופ (quph), meaning to, “go round.”2 The term תקופה (tequphah) more precisely means, “a revolution, i.e. (of the sun) course, (of time) lapse:—circuit, come about, end”;3 a “circuit,”4 “orbit of the sun . . . circle of the year.”5

The definition for tequphath is assisted by a verse from 1 Samuel. Here we read:

And it came to pass, to the תקופת (tequphath) the days, that Hannah conceived and bore a son. (1 Sam. 1:20)

In the Greek Septuagint (LXX) version, tequphath is translated to mean, “τῷ καιῷ τῶν ἡμερῶν (to kairo ton hemeron; the time of days,”6 i.e., in the cycle of the year. Even more meaning comes from a passage in Psalms, which demonstrates that the Israelites observed the movements and positions of the sun. It reads:

For the sun he has set up a tent in them (the heavens), and he as a bridegroom coming forth from his canopy, he rejoices like a hero to run a race. From the end of the heavens his going forth and his תקופת (tequphath) to their ends and nothing being hidden from his heat. (Ps. 19:5-6)

The LXX has here translated tequphath to mean κατάντημα (katanthma),7 i.e., “come to, arrive at a point . . . end, goal”;8 “to meet against, i.e. arrive at.”9 Yet, the above passage does not mean the “end,” in the sense of a conclusion or fulfillment of something, as some have unfortunately translated the word tequphath. The Greek translation τέλοϛ (telos) would best represent this meaning.10

Rather, in this case it means the end of a point on a circuit or course that is also the beginning of the next leg of the circuit. The Hebrew plural nature of תקופת (tequphath) in this above Psalm is verified by the next statement “to their ends.” The point to be made is that the tequphath is connected with the sun, and therefore is connected with the solar year.

When the LXX translated the phrase from Exod. 34:22, “a Khag of the Ingathering of the תקופת (tequphath) of the year” as “the festival of the Ingathering of the middle of the year,” it was a reference to a point on the course at the very middle of the solar year, i.e., also connected with the seventh moon of the lunar year, when the labors of the field were being gathered in.

Equinoxes and SolsticesWhen one observes the daily rising and setting of the sun along the two horizons throughout the year, he will notice that the sun reaches its furthermost point of rising and setting in the southern sky at the winter solstice, and the sun reaches its furthermost point on the northern horizon during the summer solstice. The middle point between these two extremes (the middle of the year), as the sun moves back and forth along the horizon during the year, is the position of the equinox (vernal and autumnal).

This phenomenon is the basis for the concept of the “gates (portals)” and “windows” of the heavens where the sun and moon rise and set, as described in the book of 1 Enoch and elsewhere.11 This celestial movement is described in the book of the Wisdom of Solomon, where Solomon claims that Yahweh gave him the knowledge of things that are. These things include, “the beginning, end, and middle of appointed times, the alterations of the turning (of the sun), and change of the appointed times: the circuits of years and the positions of stars.”12

Since these are solar events, they must be guided by the rules given inGenesis 1:14-18, which state that the sun governs only during the daytime.

Tequphah and Tequphath ExplainedWhat then was that point in time in the course of a solar year defined by Exod. 34:22? The answer to this lies in the most important meaning for the words תקופה (tequphah) and תקופת (tequphath).

William L. Holladay, a notable expert in the ancient Hebrew language, in his text entitled, A Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, defines tequphah as a “turning (of sun at solstice)” and at the “autumnal equinox,” citing Exod. 34:22, for the latter.13

A tequphah, therefore, is a point along the course of the sun marking the end of one course and the beginning of another, which is done at the solstices and equinoxes. There are four such points: the spring equinox, the summer solstice, the autumnal equinox, and the winter solstice.

We we come to realize is that תקופה (tequphah) is used for each one of the four points marking the course of the sun. Importantly, the term תקופת (tequphath) is used for the entire season of the year it represents.

Ancient TestimonyRabbi Eliezer (latter half of the first century C.E.), for example, states that there “are four in each year,” the first being the “Tequphah of Nisan,” followed by “the Tequphah of Tammuz” (the fourth month), “the Tequphah of Tishri” (the seventh month), and finally “the Tequphah of Tebeth” (the tenth month).14

Each season occupies three segments, or 90°, on the solar (zodiac) circle. Each Tequphah is entered at the beginning of a particular solar (zodiac) constellation (not to be confused with an actual constellation).

The Jewish author Maimonides (1135–1204 C.E.) explains:

The tequphah of Nisan occurs in that hour and part in which the sun enters the beginning of the constellation of Aries; the tequphah of Tammuz occurs when the sun enters the beginning of the constellation of Cancer; the tequphah of Tishri occurs when the sun enters the beginning of the constellation of Libra; and the tequphah of Tebeth occurs when the sun enters the beginning of the constellation of Capricorn.15

Each beginning marks either an equinox or a solstice. In this regard, Jack Finegan, in his discussion on the biblical calendar, writes:

Both the tractate Sanhedrin and Maimonides also show that the solar year was divided likewise into four seasons or tequfoth and into twelve signs of the zodiac. . . . The four Tequfoth were: the Tequfah of Nisan which began the vernal equinox when the sun enters the constellation of Aries; the Tequfah of Tammuz at the summer solstice when the sun enters Cancer; the Tequfah of Tishri at the autumnal equinox when the sun enters Libra; and the Tequfah of Tebeth at the winter solstice when the sun enters Capricorn.16

Modern Testimony
J. B. Segal reports the same thing. He writes that the tequphath represents “the solstice or equinox, or the period between solstice and equinox and between equinox and solstice.”17 Segal defines it even more specifically when he states that the Tequphah of Nisan (ha-Abib) is:

The period between the spring equinox and the summer solstice”;18 the Tequphah of Tammuz is “the period between the summer solstice and the autumn equinox”;19 the Tequphah of Tishri is “the period between the autumn equinox and the winter solstice”;20 and the Tequphah of Tebeth refers to “the period between the winter solstice and the spring equinox.21

Ephraim Wiesenberg writes:

Tekufot (“Seasons”). As stated, the four seasons in the Jewish year are called tekufot. More accurately, it is THE BEGINNING OF EACH OF THE FOUR SEASONS—according to the common view, the mean beginning—that is named tekufah (literally “circuit,” from קוף related to נקף, “to go around”), the tekufah of Nisan denoting the mean sun at the vernal equinoctial point, that of Tammuz denoting it at the summer solstitial point, that of Tishri, at the autumnal equinoctial point, and that of Tevet [Tebeth]‚ at the winter solstitial point.22

The Tequphah of the seventh month, beginning the “middle of the year,” can be nothing less than the autumnal equinox. That we are correct in understanding that the tequphah mentioned in Exod. 34:22, is a reference to the autumnal equinox and its autumnal season is confirmed by Jewish writers of the first century C.E.

The last of the annual festivals is called Tabernacles, καιρὸν ἒχουσα (kariron exusa; the appointed time being fixed by) the autumn equinox.23

While discussing all the festivals of the seventh moon, Philo writes:

When the third appointed season takes place in the seventh month at the autumnal equinox there is held at its (the seventh’s month) outset the sacred-month-day called Trumpets day, of which I have spoken above. On the tenth day is the fast . . . On the 15th day of this month at the full moon is held the Festival of Tabernacles.24

Josephus (37 C.E.-c.100 C.E.)Josephus, while giving the date of the Festival of Tabernacles, also makes this connection when he writes:

On the 15th of this same month (Tishri), at which time it turns towards the winter ὣραν (oran; season).25

Josephus’ Greek work follows a Greek and Roman reckoning of three seasons of the year, uneven in length, and begins winter with the setting of Pleiades, around November 11, when the rainy season arrives.26 Yet, as a Jewish priest, he was also aware of the four points of the equinoxes and solstices during the year.

His words, therefore, speak of that time which marks the “turn” towards the winter season, which most certainly was a reference to the time around the autumnal equinox.

The “Part Of” RuleThe day of a tequphah would be subject to the same “part of” rule that is applied to the day of a moon’s conjunction.27On a day when the earth reaches the precise moment of an equinox or solstice, part of that day belongs to the old tequphath or season while the remaining part of that day belongs to the new.

Accordingly, the day of a tequphah (equinox or solstice) is the last day of the old tequphath (season). As is the case with the moon, the calculation for each legal 24-hour day is determined from Mount Zion in Jerusalem.28

Since they are solar events, they must be guided by the rules given in Genesis 1:14-18, which state that the sun governs only during the daytime.

Equinox Events Calculated During DaytimeTherefore, the event of a tequphah (equinox or solstice) is always calculated during the 12 variable hours of daylight, from sunrise to sunset. For this reason, the ancients measured these days by using the shadows on sundials and from sun poles.29

Accordingly, if the exact moment of a tequphah occurs at night, it cannot be counted or regulated until the next daylight period.

Since a legal 24-hour day runs from sunset to sunset, if the moment of an equinox or solstice occurs during the daytime, that entire day which began with the previous sunset until the next sunset is counted as the last day of the previous tequphath (season).

The next legal 24-hour day, which begins with the sunset that follows the moment of an equinox or solstice, is the first day of the new season (tequphath).

Only Two Seasons in ScripturesImportant for our concerns is the little-known detail that in Scriptures there were emphasized not four seasons in the solar year but only two: the season of קיץ (qayits; harvest) and the season of חרף (khoreph; gathered crops), terms commonly translated as “summer and winter” but actually referring to “spring-summer” and “autumn-winter.”

The beginning portions of the קיץ (qayits; spring-summer) and חרף (khoreph; autumn-winter) are described as the “return of the year”36and the “outgoing of the year.”37Their subdivision into four seasons by later Jewish writers was based upon the common practice of using both the equinox and solstice to determine the seasons.

As we shall presently see, these two greater scriptural seasons each begin with an equinox and are the only points in time relevant to the calculation in the Scriptural calendar. The solstices, which are not directly mentioned in Scriptures and are often the focal points of pagan religions, are simply not relevant.

It is during the period of קיץ (qayits) that the crops come in and the first harvests are made—i.e., spring and summer. The barley harvest begins in the Jordan Valley around the middle of April and in the higher regions of Israel up to the middle part of May.38

During the time of unleavened bread, for example, the first crops (usually barley and vegetables) were first harvested,39and the time of Pentecost was the time of the harvest of first fruits.40

The period of חרף (khoreph), on the other hand, was the time of gathering in of the crops and storing them—i.e., autumn and winter. This period is connected with the Khag of Ingathering and the gathering in of the crops for storage.41

Two Relevant Passages From ScripturesThere are two relevant passages from Scriptures naming these two seasons. In Psalms we read:

1. You have formed the קיץ (qayits; spring-summer) and חרף (khoreph; autumn-winter. (Psalms 74:17)

2. Meanwhile, in Zechariah 14:8, we are told of the year-round flow of a sacred river, which in the time of the messiah will run out of the Temple mount and the city of Jerusalem. Half of it will be flowing towards the eastern sea and the other half towards the western sea. The year-round status of this flow is described as occurring “in קיץ (qayits; spring-summer) and in חרף (khoreph; autumn-winter).”

William Smith writes of these above passages:

But that they signify ordinarily the two grand divisions of the year, the warm and cold seasons, is evident from their use for the whole year in the expression “summer and winter.”42

Seasons Regulated by the SunSmith adds that “the year had two beginnings, respectively at about the vernal and the autumnal equinox.”43Put another way, in Scriptures there are only two seasons (tequphath) and these are regulated by the sun.

• The last 24-hour legal day of the qayits tequphath is the day of the autumnal equinox and the last 24-hour legal day of khoreph tequphath is the day of the vernal equinox, which is also the last day of the solar year.

• Conversely, the first day of qayits tequphath is the 24-hour legal day following the day of the vernal equinox, also being the first day of the solar year, and the first day of the khoreph tequphath is the 24-hour legal day following the day of the autumnal equinox.

These two seasons match perfectly, as already mentioned, with the expressions, “the תשובת (teshubath; return, turn) of the year” and “the צאת (tsath; outgoing) of the year.”44

Tequphath or Tequphah?The determination of the beginning of the year ultimately comes down to identifying the tequphath mentioned in Exodus 34:22. This important passage states:

And you shall observe . . . the Khag of האסף (ha-asaph; the gathering in, the Ingathering)45of the תקופת (tequphath) of the year.

To identify this particular tequphath, we must confirm whether or not it is a reference to a season of the year (spring-summer, autumn-winter) or to a day of an equinox (i.e., either the day of the vernal equinox or autumnal equinox).

We then need to discover exactly which day or season of the year is intended by Exodus 34:22, as the Festival of Ingathering.

Day or SeasonsThe tequphath of Exodus 34:22 is defined as a season by the following facts:

1. The word for the day of a vernal or autumnal equinox is תקופה (tequphah) not תקופת (tequphath).

2. The words used in Exodus 34:22, “וחג האספ תקופת השנה (u-khag ha-asaph tequphath ha-shanah),” literally mean “and Khag of the Ingathering of the tequphath of the year.” There is no use of a prepositional prefix, like ב (be; in, at, on)46or ל (la; to, for, belonging to),47 attached to the term tequphath, nor does the sentence use a preposition like the word אחר (akhar; after)48or בטרם (beterem; before).49The phrase merely connects this khag in a general way with a tequphath. This detail is our first indication that the tequphath used here is not a day but a season of the year.

3. This tequphath cannot mean “the day of the equinox” for the simple reason that the alignment of months over a series of years necessitate the fact that, during the month that the equinox occurs, there would be many times when it would never take place on any of the 7 days of Tabernacles or the eighth day of Ingathering (the 15th to the 22nd of the moon). Rather, the equinox could fall either from the 1st until the 14th or from the 23rd until the 30th day. Therefore, by context the passage from Exodus 34:22 can only be a reference to the season (tequphath). As already demonstrated, in Scriptures there are only two tequphath in the year, “קיץ (qayits; spring-summer) and חרף (khoreph; autumn-winter). Accordingly, our search for the identity of the tequphath has been narrowed to one of the two great seasons of the solar year, each calculated with regard to an equinox.

Which Season?The tequphath or season of the year in Exodus 34:22 is a reference to the autumnal season, which begins on the day following the autumnal equinox. This detail is verified by the following facts:

• The Khag of Ingathering, also in large part called the Khag of Tabernacles, is dated to the 7th moon of the year,50while Passover is dated to the 1st moon of the year, i.e., the moon called ha-Abib.51

•The Khag of Ingathering FOLLOWS the Khag of Weeks (Pentecost),52which is also called “the Khag of the Harvest of the first fruits of your labor, of what you sowed in the field,”53 the “day of the first fruits,”54and the time of “the first fruits of the harvest of wheat”55At this time, new food offerings were brought to Yahweh from the first fruits of the land.56These statements are a clear reference to the late spring harvest of first fruits, including that of wheat.

• The Khag of Ingathering is placed during “the outgoing of the year,”57i.e., in the last half of the year. The “outgoing of the year,” as we have previously demonstrated, is a reference to the time “after” the autumnal equinox.58

• The Khag of Ingathering comes “with your ingathering from your grain floor and your wine press,”59“with your gathering in of the increase of the land,”60and “with the gathering in of your work from the field.”61These statements are a reference to the great harvest that comes during the autumn of the year. In fact, it fits the definition of חרף (khoreph; autumn-winter), as we have demonstrated above, which means, “the crop gathered.”

• Yahushua the messiah and his disciples kept the festivals of Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles in the same seasons of the year as did the Jews of that period.62By doing so, they confirmed that, at minimum, the first century C.E. Jewish understanding of what time of the year these festivals were held was in agreement with Scriptures. As Josephus, Philo, and several early Jewish works of this period prove, Passover fell in the spring near the vernal equinox while Tabernacles (which for them included the 8th day called Ingathering) fell in the fall near the autumnal equinox.63

Taken together, these points of fact all prove that the Khag of Ingathering is associated with the autumnal tequphath. In turn, this information demonstrates that the Khag of Ingathering must be dated so that it occurs during the autumnal season, which period, as we have already shown, begins with the 24-hour legal day following the autumnal equinox—a conclusion mandated by the “part of” rule in Scriptures.64

The Khag of Ingathering must always follow after the day of the equinox because at sunset comes the beginning of the festival. If the equinox comes anytime during that 24-hour day, then that day by definition belongs in part to the previous season. For the Khag of Ingathering to have no part of the previous season, the entire 24-hour legal day must fall within the autumnal tequphath.

The Same YearWe are told several times in Scriptures that “three times in the year” those following Yahweh must attend a khag (i.e., the Khag of Unleavened Bread, the Khag of Weeks, and the Khag of Tabernacles/Ingathering), at which time all males are to appear worthy before Yahweh eloahi of Israel.65

The question becomes, “Which year system? The solar year or the lunar year?”

The first thing that should catch our attention is use of the otherwise redundant thought which is found in the phrase “in the year.” Since these festivals are already dated as coming in the “first” until the “seventh” lunar months, why even mention that they were required to be celebrated within the same year? Is it not manifest that, since the months are specified, that they are already described as falling within the same lunar year?

It therefore becomes apparent that the Scriptures were not referring to the lunar year but warning that all three festivals were to be celebrated within the same solar year.

Support for this understanding is gleaned in other important ways. Although the statutes of the moon are used to date the 24-hour legal days of the moadim,66the season of the year is, in fact, based upon solar reckoning. We know this detail for several reasons.

• First, Scriptures directly tell us that the Khag of Ingathering is tied to the autumn tequphath (season)—the two tequphath of Scriptures both being based upon solar reckoning—as well as to the fall harvest of grain, wine, and other crops (which likewise are seasonal).67

Similarly, the Khag of Weeks is clocked in to the time of the harvest of first fruits of wheat, which in the Promised Land comes during the spring.68Neither was one allowed to partake of the new harvest of the year until after the omer wave offering was provided, which could only be cut and waved after Passover was celebrated.69

If only the lunar year was concerned, the instructions would have held their use of the new grain only until the first day of the first moon. Yet, by holding their usage until after Passover, it did not allow any usage until after the vernal equinox.

In this regard, a passage from the book of Joshua in respect to this first cutting after the Israelites entered the land of Kanaan is relevant. According to this passage, after the Israelites celebrated the Passover at Gilgal, they ate “the produce of the land of Kanaan IN THAT YEAR.”70Crops and the tequphath are both seasonal and their timing in the Promised Land are determined by the position of the sun, ergo the solar year.

• Second, Scriptures speak of both the “return of the year”71and the “outgoing of the year.”72As D. J. Wiseman points out, the “return of the year” refers to the “spring equinox” and the “going out of the year” is a reference to “the autumnal equinox.”73

Ingathering and the Outgoing of the YearThis understanding is supported when Exodus 23:15, uses the phrase “outgoing of the year” for the timing of the Khag of Ingathering, while Exodus 34:22, connects it with the autumnal “tequphath.” Therefore, “outgoing of the year” = the tequphath associated with the Khag of Ingathering.

Meanwhile, the LXX translates “outgoing of the year” at the time of the Khag of Ingathering to mean “at the exodus of the year,”74while the “tequphath” connected with that festival is described as “the middle of the year.”75These definitions can only apply to a solar year, the autumnal equinox being the middle point, the date where the solar year turns to its “outgoing” phase.

• Third, the scriptural year is not purely a lunar calendar, for if that were the case there would never be a reason to intercalate a 13th moon every so many years, as was done in the time of the messiah. There would only be 12 moons per lunar year without any reference to the seasons.

Yet, if there were only 12 moons a year, the timing of the three khag periods would quickly fall out of their commanded seasons. Nevertheless, we know that the Jewish leaders intercalated the year and that the messiah kept the festivals in the same season as did the Jewish groups.

J. Van Goudoever writes:

It appears that the feasts are not only regulated by the phases of the moon but also by the orbit of the sun. In order to celebrate the feasts in the proper season one must balance the lunar and the solar (or agricultural or seasonal) influences in the liturgical calendar.76

A Lunar-Solar CalendarIt is for these reasons that historians have acknowledged that the Scriptures utilize a lunar-solar calendar.77

Finally, as will be amply demonstrated in a forthcoming work,78both the ancient Aristocratic Jewish sources and early Christian writers also report that the “same year” in which all three festivals were to be held was solar and not lunar.

Epiphanius (315–403 C.E.) sums up the early Christian view when he compares it with that practiced by the Pharisaic Jews during his time (these Jews by now having substantially strayed from the original practice of the Aristocratic groups). He writes:

If we celebrate on the Jewish date, we shall sometimes celebrate after the equinox, as they often do, and we too; and again, we shall sometimes celebrate before the equinox, as they do when they celebrate alone. Therefore, if we also celebrate (with them), we will keep two Passovers in one year, (one) after the equinox and (one) before it; but the next year we shall not keep any Passover at all, and the whole will turn out to be error instead of truth. For the year will not be over before the day of the equinox; and the cycle of the course (of the sun), which the deity has given men, is not complete unless the equinox is past.79

Stated another way, since the day of the vernal equinox is the last day of the solar year, if one celebrates the Passover after the vernal equinox and the next Passover before the following vernal equinox, he has celebrated two Passovers in one solar year.

Further, the moment of the equinox must arrive before the time of sunset on the 14th of ha-Abib (Nisan), for it was immediately after sunset that the lamb was sacrificed, followed by the Passover supper.

Conclusion of Part 1The results of this evidence show that, although by lunar reckoning the first few days of the “first” and “seventh” moons (months)—coming as they do around the beginning and middle of the year—can fall either before, on, or after their respective equinox.

Nevertheless, the festivals themselves, which are dated by the moon, must always fall within the same solar year. This lunar-solar aspect to the sacred year is both important and basic to the scriptural rules of the annual calendar.

This concludes Part 1 of our two part discussion regarding the determination of how to begin the scriptural New Year.

Be sure to continue on with Beginning the New Year – Pt. 2 where we will discuss the Festival of Tabernacles and how the Feast of Ingathering is the key to understanding the vital role in determining the exact date for the beginning of the year.

Note: Adapted from a chapter from the forthcoming publication by Qadesh La Yahweh Press.